2 days ago
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Here's a weird one! Mark Lee, a former member of the successful K-pop idol groups NCT 127 and NCT Dream, recently announced that he was going solo and splitting away from SM Entertainment, the South Korean talent-agency conglomerate behind the the various NCT sub-groupings, to launch his own label Upper Room. A few weeks later, Upper Room posted photos of Lee wearing a Confederate flag shirt at an event. Since then, Upper Room has posted and then seemingly deleted an apology.
As far as we know, Mark Lee isn't related to Robert E. Lee or anything like that. Lee, a 26-year-old Korean-Canadian born in Toronto, joined the SM Entertainment system as an adolescent trainee, and he was part of NCT (which stands for Neo Culture Technology) when the whole enterprise launched in 2016. NCT is a kind of boy-band mothership with dozens of current and former members and many different sub-groups. Lee, usually known simply as Mark, was part of the groups NCT 127 and NCT Dream, as well as the K-pop supergroup SuperM, and he released a solo album called The Fistfruit last year.
In April, Lee left SM Entertainment and NCT after his contract expired. Earlier this month, he launched Upper Room, his own label/company. This week, Upper Room's social media accounts posted photos of Lee wearing a long-sleeve T-shirt with the Confederate flag at a fan event. The post was quickly deleted, but the photos made the internet rounds, causing both anger and bafflement.
Yesterday, those same Upper Room accounts reportedly posted an apology. Right now, though, the Upper Room Twitter account is protected, and the apology doesn't appear on its Instagram story. The Upper Room Instagram account no longer has any reference to that shirt.
ABS CBN got a screengrab of the apology. In the post, Upper Room reps say:
We would like to extend our sincere apologies for the concern, discomfort, and disappointment caused by the vintage T-shirt that appeared in a recently shared photograph.
The garment was selected solely as a vintage wardrobe item. However, upon recognising the historical significance and sensitivity associated with the symbol displayed on the T-shirt, we took measures to ensure that it would not be visible in any official content. Despite these efforts, the image was subsequently shared externally, resulting in the symbol being visible and causing understandable concern among members of the public...
We sincerely apologize to everyone who was hurt, offended, or disappointed by this situation. We remain committed to acting with greater responsibility, awareness, and care moving forward.
Here's that screengrab:
According to various news outlets who cover this world more regularly, various online K-pop fans don't seem ready to accept that apology quite yet. Now that the apology has been hidden, the noise seems unlikely to die down, especially since Lee has yet to personally address this whole thing.
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